Recently, when my wife returned from holiday, I had a loaf of bread baking so she would arrive to the aroma of freshly baked bread. Do you like the aroma of fresh bread, or maybe of freshly brewed coffee? When you were younger was there a meal you really enjoyed and if you came home and smelt that aroma, it warmed your heart and comforted you. Such is the aroma of hope in a broken world. “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15)
Some of you who are old enough might remember the Jesus Marches of the 1970’s when many young people gathered, marched and rallied with songs and public proclamation of the gospel. I had only started attending a youth group, and wanted to join my local march as a witness to my faith in Jesus. I was milling around and waiting for my friends to arrive when a youth group leader from another church came up to me and said, you aren’t part of our youth group so you can’t march with us.
Recently someone said to me, If the Church is about worshipping God, then we should work out what sort of worship God wants and do it better! This statement echoes the sentiment Matt Redman expressed in the song The heart of Worship. When you strip the extraneous away, what do we find at the heart of worship? Matt Redman’s lyric said, It's all about You, Jesus. When we consider our approach to worship, are we focused on Jesus and bringing the worship God desires?
When I first arrived as minister here, God impressed upon me the image, Greyfriars is a ship set sail. It seems to me that for the last two years most of the crew has been confined to quarters, to ride out the COVID storm, and now we are beginning to emerge and work to get things ship shape once again. As members of the crew we each have a part to play, but with COVID still spreading in the community many are still being cautious. In this season of church life, How do we care for each other?
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